Far too many law firms continue to operate in silos, in terms of document management.\u00a0 But, silos are only good when you\u2019re storing grain . . . or a body<\/a>.\u00a0 (Wait, did I say that out loud?). And, since you\u2019re not doing either of things (probably), it\u2019s time to consolidate your document files.<\/p>\n

Even as paperless practice continues to accrete upon law firms, many still operate under a hybrid document management profile.\u00a0 Some of the files are paper only, some are electronic only, and some exist as dual copies.\u00a0 While that may seem like a reasonable approach, as the long, slow drive to a fully paperless office commences, it\u2019s really just a bigger pain in the ass.\u00a0 If you\u2019re looking for a needle, one haystack is better than two.\u00a0 So, in the first instance, make sure there is one, true copy of your law firm data.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t want to give up the paper, I won\u2019t quarrel with you<\/a>: Just scan everything you get and save it electronically, even if you want to keep the paper files around.\u00a0 Some folks would call that a paperless practice; I\u2019d call that a cop-out \u2014 unless you\u2019re destroying all the paper files that you can, you\u2019re just a guy who\u2019s telling people you\u2019re paperless, while step over piles of redwelds on the way to the Keurig machine.<\/p>\n

But, wait!\u00a0 Even if all of your documents are scanned, and you\u2019re disposing of the paper as allowed, there are still potential problems that can foil your paperless goals.\u00a0 Back to the silos.\u00a0 When I ask law firms where their documents are located, I always get several answers: Oh, some are on the server.\u00a0 Then, I\u2019ve got some in my case management system.\u00a0 And, I have a Dropbox account that I can\u2019t remember the password to.\u00a0 And, Google Drive.\u00a0 Then, I have, like, four backup drives.\u00a0 And, there\u2019s a thumbdrive in here, if I can just find it . . . In short, it\u2019s always a dumpster fire.\u00a0 The only acceptable answer is that your documents are in one place.\u00a0 Just one.\u00a0 The \u2018one place rule\u2019 eliminates silos.\u00a0 Tear \u2018em down!\u00a0 So, of that list: pick one.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care which one.\u00a0 Just pick one.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s not exactly true; I kind of care.\u00a0 If you\u2019re using Microsoft Office, as your primary email system, here\u2019s what you should do: (1) Upgrade to Office 365<\/a>, if you haven\u2019t already; (2) Use OneDrive<\/a> as your data storage program.\u00a0 (One Drive, one place . . . see, that works juuuust fine.). If you\u2019re an Outlook<\/a> user, this streamlines your workflow nicely.\u00a0 The good news is that using One Drive won\u2019t cost you anything more, because it\u2019s included with Office 365.\u00a0 And, your Office 365 subscription will also feature the premise-based version of Office 2016, for download on up to 5 devices (LINK).\u00a0 So, if you want to keep using the local Office apps, you can do so, while maintaining the flexibility of Office 365.\u00a0 But, even if you\u2019re not drafting online, you will need to save back to OneDrive, instead of your local device, to make this work.\u00a0 (And, there\u2019s an auto save feature<\/a> \u2014 if you\u2019re not into manual operations anymore.). If you\u2019re a Google person, use Google for Business<\/a> + Google Drive<\/a>; and, if you have a Mac or iPad, you can use iCloud<\/a>.\u00a0 Same difference; pick one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that I said \u2018one\u2019 repository is the way to go; but, I\u2019m gonna add a substantial caveat to that instruction, and carve out integrations as being part of your single system.\u00a0 So long as you\u2019re saving your documents and files to one place, you can then sync those documents and files with other systems.\u00a0 This avoids the siloing problem, because you\u2019re technically not storing documents in another system, just linking back to your primary repository.\u00a0 When everything\u2019s connected, it\u2019s just the one big silo you\u2019re working with.\u00a0 If you integrate One Drive with your case management system, for example, so you can access documents or attach them to cases, you\u2019re not burdened searching various buckets for your list.<\/p>\n

And, this is one of the chief advantages of cloud-based systems.\u00a0 It was very difficult to connect data via traditional, premise-based systems, without grafting onto those systems some additional arcane mechanism(s).\u00a0 With the cloud, all you need is an internet connection, to share what you want, where you want.\u00a0 And, now that you know the secret, you can spring clean your document files, and get it all together<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Far too many law firms continue to operate in silos, in terms of document management.\u00a0 But, silos are only good when you\u2019re storing grain . . . or a body.\u00a0 (Wait, did I say that out loud?). And, since you\u2019re not doing either of things (probably), it\u2019s time to consolidate your document files. Even as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[89,335,322,324,325,76,330,332,331,334,333,327,81,280,329,328,136,323,338,337,336,326],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/cd-rom-makro-1-1478684.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redcavelegal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}